Lenny and Dave/Zoom were our neighbors in Puyallup. They finally decided to travel - to Norway - hooray! We were silly. We were bedazzled. We were exhausted. Best ten days!
Stegastein Viewpoint
The tour was organized by Nordic Visitor and our contact person was Sofia Sundkvist. Hats off to this woman's organizational skills! Poor Lenny and Zoom were stuck with a hapless tour guide - me. Most of the time, we weren't lost.
Oslo to start. The new Munch Museum was fun! Besides rooms full of art, like a normal museum, there were scenes hidden inside pianos, and interactive chairs, where an invisible painter 'paints' you.
Mice! In there! and yes, I did stand up after that...
Hotel breakfast buffets are to die for. Notice the scale next to this one?
The hotels were all historic, interesting, and right next to the train stations. Here's the bathroom in Grand Hotel Terminus, Bergen. You can tell the hotel was built before indoor plumbing!
Final course - porter and chocolate. I'm drooling even now.
This is a "grilled cheese sandwich", believe it or not.
The tour went by train from Oslo to Flåm. The train from the top of the world at Myrdal stopped at a wonderful waterfall, with a singing huldra. Huldra are magical creatures, beautiful women with cow tails who always have healthy livestock, green vegetable gardens, and clean houses! At this stop, the huldra appears and disappears, then pops up in a new location, still singing. It's magic, of course.
WooHoo!
We stayed two nights there. I introduced Lenny and Zoom to Norwegian hiking food - Kvikk Lunsj. It's basically a Twix bar with salt.
Leaving Flåm, we took a smooth electric boat tour of the fjords between Flåm and Gudvangen. Lenny elbowed the selfie-stick photographers out of the way and took a bazillion pictures. If you're on Facebook, you have to look up Lenny Zimmerman!
From Gudvangen, we took a bus back up to the top of the world, and the train on the most beautiful part of the Bergensbanen - between Voss and Bergen. We got a potty break halfway up, at Stalheim Hotel.
Looking back toward Gudvangen
I stayed at this hotel once, in 2011
Okay! Last train ride! Only showing one picture, and I'm not sure it was from the train. Might have been from the boat.
Are you still with me? Now we get to my town, Bergen. Lenny took pictures of door handles. I took pictures of postboxes. We sauntered all over town, taking in all the wooden houses with fancy edges, fun things that I have found, Nordnes Park, and Nygårdspark. We rode the funicular up to the top of Fløyen and the gondola to the top of Ulriken.
On Ulriken wearing my top made from a duvet cover
"Stroll, Promenade, Strut and Observe"
Fløyen - the center of everything
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We turned 950 years old and had to immortalize our rain
Manhole cover from before 2020
Coolest bathroom, in the science museum
Sun! Warmth!
And then it was the 17th of May, Constitution Day. Bergen has the best celebration in Norway. Cannon wake you up at 7 am. Families and friends have breakfast together. I made a successful egg dish for us. Then there are two parades passing each other in opposite directions! The children's parade with all the schools and youth organizations walk along with their banners. The buekorps boys drum their hearts out. The main parade with the firemen, the bicycle club, the dentistry students, and any other adult group follow marching bands in the opposite direction. We love chaos!
I've posted pics every year, so I'll spare you this year. Just one or two.
This spot is "my tree" since 2009
Back in 2009, I took a picture of a mother and two daughters. Now, the same family has grandkids and spouses. Time flies, doesn't it?
We ended the day with fireworks at 11:15, when it was starting to get dark. And the next day, Lenny and Zoom went back to Puyallup. I am so glad I got to play with them!
I can see you really enjoyed seeing Norway from a tourist's POV. JML
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